Travel havoc likely as snow, Polar Vortex move east

Snowstorms are hitting much of the Pacific Northwest, as dangerously cold temperatures spread out from the upper Midwest. Snowstorms already have cities from Portland, Oregon to Buffalo, New York digging out. (Dec. 15)
AP

An emergency vehicle fights through heavy traffic as a snow storm moves in on the area in Portland, Ore., on Dec. 14, 2016. A wintry afternoon and evening is forecast for much of Oregon, with some cities expected to get a foot of snow.(Photo: Don Ryan, AP)

Snow, sometimes heavy and windy enough for blizzard conditions, is forecast across much of the northern tier of the country through the weekend, disrupting travel along icy roads and at congested airports.

On Friday, a strong Pacific storm dropped heavy rain across much of California, according to the National Weather Service. Heavy snow was forecast across the northern Rocky Mountains and High Plains to the Great Lakes, the weather service said. Oswego County Airport in New York had a wind chill of minus 5 degrees Thursday and a blizzard warning through 1 a.m. Friday, with winds gusting to 50 mph, the weather service said.

Blizzard conditions are possible in airline hubs such as Denver and Chicago, where carriers have begun issuing travel warnings. All four of the largest airlines — American, Delta, Southwest and United — offered to change Friday and Saturday travel plans without fees.

By 11 p.m. ET Thursday, airlines delayed over 4,000 flights and canceled another 584 because of high winds along the East Coast and precipitation in the west, according to the flight-tracking service FlightAware.com. Newark had 178 flights canceled and San Francisco had 84 canceled, according to FlightAware.

In western Pennsylvania, 59 vehicles crashed Thursday in a snowy pileup that prompted one of three shutdowns of sections of Interstate 80.

Public-safety officials in Vermont, where wind chills Friday could reach 35 degrees below zero, warned residents to limit time outdoors. And in upstate New York, school and government offices closed early Thursday ahead of an expected 1 to 2 feet of snow.

“You manipulate your work schedule for whatever Mother Nature’s going to give you, because you’re not going to change her,” Will Irvine, who was hoping to finish inspection of a covered bridge in Conway, N.H., before the strong wind arrived Friday, told The Associated Press.

As the storm moves east, freezing rain is possible across the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast by Friday night, according to the weather service. On Saturday, snow could stretch diagonally from Colorado to Maine, while a combination of rain and snow could range from the Carolinas to Boston, the weather service said.

Washington, D.C., could receive its first snow of the season, and cities from Philadelphia to Boston could receive enough snow to plow, according to AccuWeather.

Accompanying the snow is fierce cold thanks to the Polar Vortex. Arctic air will cover much of the central and eastern U.S. in the wake of the cold front, with temperatures 20 to 30 degrees below average across the northern plains, Midwest, Ohio and Tennessee valleys, the weather service said.

“You are talking about 30 degrees below normal highs. That is pretty darn cold,” James Brown, a weather service meteorologist in Maine, told AP. “This is pretty much a piece of Arctic air that came off the North Pole and came into New England.”

"Dangerous to life-threatening" wind chill temperatures to 45 below zero are forecast Friday night through Sunday morning in parts of the Dakotas, the weather service said.

As the storm slides east, travel disruptions are expected at airports and on roads across 1,200 miles of the central United States. Motorists along Interstate 90 corridor should be prepared for snow-covered roads and blowing snow, according to AccuWeather.

“Motorists and airline passengers may want to explore an alternate or more southern route as confidence is high that there will be widespread, major travel disruptions with this storm,” said Brett Anderson, an AccuWeather senior meteorologist. "People should expect treacherous driving conditions for the Friday commutes around Chicago as snow moves in. Heavier snow will reach the Detroit area Friday evening, before changing to an icy mix on Saturday."

Around Denver, the temperature will plummet from the 50s Friday to below freezing Saturday morning, Anderson said. “The rapid freeze with high winds and heavy snow will create blizzard conditions with major delays likely at Denver International Airport.”

Wet surfaces and slush could freeze across the Ohio Valley and lower Great Lakes region late Saturday and Sunday. Around St. Louis, the worst of the storm will be Saturday, with rain changing to snow and a freeze possible.

People maneuver on slick roads as a snow storm moves in on the area in Portland, Ore., on Dec. 14, 2016.(Photo: Don Ryan, AP)